timmyhollywood

Severance is already on my Top 5 List for best TV shows of the last decade. Season one put it there. So far season two has done what many other TV shows fail to do - extend and expand the story in compelling ways that feel necessary. And here in season two episode 6 it does what the greatest TV shows do - it transcends. Particularly in the restaurant scene between Mark and Helena. It's a scene so intense, so rich with layers of meaning, and yet almost nothing happens on the surface. I was spellbound. A TV show earns this kind of transcendence. The story works and works to build to a moment like this. And severance has many of them. What a brilliant show brimming with talent. Such a perfect blend of mystery, fantasy, satire and aesthetic. Bravo to all involved. I can't wait for what's next.

I want to say two things about this movie. One is how it begins: risky. I'd clicked on it because I'd never seen it, and because I'd had a bit of a "crush" on Anne Heche (RIP) since watching her in "Return to Paradise" with Vince Vaughn (a good, underrated film).

"Spread" starts with a voice over (red flag #1 -- voice overs are usually lazy storytelling; and it's not a PI noir movie). We hear Ashton Kutcher, in an odd, almost comedically pitched-down voice, narrate about how sex has always come easy to him because of how good-looking he is, as his character leaves the house of some unknown person.

This is a risky opening. Movies either have to get the viewers attention right away by some eye-grabby scene, or, if it's a character film like this one, some reason to want to watch the character. Arrogance and apathy are odd choices. It was just bizarre enough that I kept watching until the next scene, when Anne Heche appears. And then it was at least mildly entertaining to watch their relationship develop.

As this film goes along, Ashton Kutcher's "Nikki" becomes a bit more human. The plot gets subtly more interesting. There are even a couple of minor twists. By the end, the film has done something kind of unique -- it's taken this rather unlikeable lothario character and made you root for him... but not so much you're disappointed in the overall film if he fails to achieve his goal.

The second thing I'll say is this. There's a larger context here about Hollywood, about the mecca it is for young people hoping to make their mark on the entertainment industry. And here's the thing with that. The handsome young stud or darling ingenue arriving on Hollywood's doorstep and going on to make it in the business is a myth. The Brad Pitts of the world are the exceptions, not the rule. For every Edward Furlong being "discovered" by casting agents (as is the story of his role in Terminator 2), hundreds of Hollywood actors attained their role in the business through nepotism or some form of circumstance. They were born and raised in LA. Mom was a casting director. Dad was an actor, or a production designer, or a studio accountant.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands flock every year, driven in part by the mythos of the handsome midwesterner showing up at age 21 with nothing but the clothes on his back and becoming a big star. You know the rest: the end up often doing questionable things to get their chance, or to just make ends meet. The vast majority go into service retail. And the handsome midwesterner becomes a delivery guy.

"Spread" is a decent flick. I didn't expect much, but it surprised me and got me thinking. Director David McKenzie has done one other film I've seen -- "Hell or Highwater," which is a damn good movie. So I guess it makes sense.

7/10.

How foolish of me, in retrospect, to have expected I might learn something interesting from this documentary. For its 90 minute run time, the actual salient facts of Bryan Johnson's longevity project come few and fast. He exercises an hour a day with three intensity sets a week. He's vegan. He takes a hundred or more "pills." Beyond this, the story focuses on his relationship with his son, a little about his past, and makes passing attempts to frame the controversy surrounding him (there isn't much) and to enter the conversation on public health.

I'd hoped to learn a bit more about what he's actually doing, what vitamins or pills he might be taking, but with only a couple of exceptions, this and many other facets of Johnson's project remained unknown. I realized that this is likely because those aspects are proprietary. This is Johnson's personal quest, but also his enterprise. So the "debate" over whether he is altruistic or some grifter seems answered by the nature of the documentary about him itself; to really know about the man who wants to live forever, just plug in your credit card number.